This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: Do you or your students use digital images from the Internet in class presentations or projects? If so, do you know if you are legally allowed to use these images in your classroom?

What is the problem? Most images found on the Internet are not copyright free, even for non-commercial educational use. In this blog posting, we’ll explore two methods of searching the Internet for digital images that ensure you or your students are not breaking any copyright laws.

How does it work? Flickr and Google Images are two popular websites that contain millions of digital images available for download. To address copyright concerns, Flickr allows the photographer (i.e. – original author) to assign a Creative Commons license to any photographic image they’ve placed on the Flickr website.

What is Creative Commons? Creative Commons is non-profit organization that has put a licensing system in place so that individuals, companies, and institutions have access to a straightforward and standardized method of attaching automatic copyright permissions to their creative works. Creative Commons is NOT only limited to images, but can also include works of text, sounds, and video. I recommend that you click on this link to read more about the different types of Creative Commons licenses.

Video Tutorial: For more information on how to search Flickr and Google Images without breaking any copyright laws, please click the large play button below:

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Quick overview: A step-by-step video tutorial on how to install the SMART Notebook software on your personal computer at home. A SMARTBoard at home is NOT required.

How can it be used in the classroom: A common question I hear is, “How am I supposed to prepare a SMARTBoard lesson at home without an actual SMARTboard?” Well, you can use the SMART Notebook software. This is the same software that runs on the SMARTBoard in your classroom, but it is also available for use on your home computer and doesn’t require a SMARTBoard to operate.

What is the advantage to doing this: SMARTBoard lessons prepared in advance using a combination of the text tool, images, and other interactive elements from the Notebook Gallery, tend to be more polished than those created “on the fly” in front of students. In addition, it also forces teachers to move away from relying only on using the SMARTBoard pens (similar to chalk on a regular blackboard) when presenting a lesson. The true strength of the SMARTBoard is evident when lessons are developed with functions that make them interactive and student driven. Remember, there is more to a SMARTBoard than simply using the pens like a fancy blackboard!

How do I get my lesson on the SMARTBoard at school: Once you’ve completed your lesson at home, you would save your SMART notebook file (.notebook) to a USB thumb drive. Next time you are at the school, you would load it up on your SMARTBoard connected computer in your classroom.

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video of how to install the SMART Notebook software on your computer at home, please click the large play button below:

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Quick overview: This technique could be used in a PowerPoint presentation to give the illusion that the user is zooming into an image (when clicked) for a close-up or to setup a navigation system between different PowerPoint slides.

How does it work: This technique creates a transparent hotspot in a PowerPoint presentation. A hotspot is an invisible graphic. Clicking on a hotspot can be setup to link to other slides in a PowerPoint presentation. This advanced ICT Tip requires previous experience with PowerPoint.  (Source: Marc-André Lalande, RECIT FGA)

Video Tutorial: Here’s a step-by-step video tutorial which shows how to setup and use transparent hotspots in a PowerPoint presentation:

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Quick overview: EhterPad allows multiple students to work simultaneously on one word processing document over the Internet.  As each student types, their edits appear INSTANTLY in the EtherPad document. To help a group keep track who is typing what, each student’s edits are represented by a unique text color.

How does it work: In many ways, EtherPad (www.etherpad.com) is similar to Google Docs which I’ve highlighted in an earlier ICT Blog posting. In a nutshell, both EtherPad and Google Docs allow multiple people to edit a single document at the same time over the Internet.

How is Etherpad different from Google Docs? When multiple people are working in Google Docs, it takes about five to fifteen seconds for any edits to appear. Edits in EtherPad are instant. Google Docs does NOT indicate which person is typing, so things can get confusing with multiple students working in a document at the same time. Lastly, Google Docs requires each user to sign-up and create an account to edit documents, EtherPad does NOT.  The benefit of not having to sign-up for an account is that you can start right away and do not have to worry about lost student passwords and logins.

How can it be used in the classroom: As it only takes a few seconds to start a new Public EtherPad document, this website could be used as a quick and dirty class brainstorming tool. For example, students could divide up and write down common ideas in one single Etherpad document.  Classmates could then refine their own ideas and even those of their classmates. Each student works on a different computer but everyone works in the same document.

How to collaborate: To collaborate on an EtherPad document with other classmates, students can log into the site with a guest account and start working.  They can then share a unique weblink that is automatically associated with each Etherpad document, called an “invite” link.  This link can be copy and pasted into an e-mail or even scribbled down on a piece of paper. However, be careful! The link is case sensitive which means your students need to make sure that they pay attention to all the capital and small letters when writing down the link to share with other classmates.

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Quick overview: The Biography Channel website (www.biography.com/search) contains thousands of on-line biographies for your students to consult.

How can it be used in the classroom: Even though The Biography Channel is a commercial entity, it maintains a free-to-use website. Students can search for biographies by person’s name, alphabetically, keyword, or browse by category (i.e – inventors, athletes, physicists) in the search bios section. Certain biographies contain more information than others, depending on the celebrity level or historical importance of the individual being searched. In the bio’s best section, students can find special features dedicated to topics such as black history and notable women in history.

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Quick overview: How to ensure that the SMARTBoard accurately registers where you press with your finger or a pen. Beginner technique.

How can it be used in the classroom: As a rule of thumb, I highly recommend that you calibrate your SMARTboard before EACH class.  This quick and easy procedure (literally just a few seconds) will ensure that your SMARTBoard accurately registers where you press with your finger or pen during a presentation. An uncalibrated board will make it difficult for you to move around small objects or manipulate toolbars. A SMARTBoard will become uncalibrated if your digital projector or SMARTBoard is moved even a fraction of a inch!

Video Tutorial: To see a short on-line video of how to calibrate your board, please click the large play button below:

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Quick overview: The Survey Monkey website (www.surveymonkey.com) allows your students to create on-line surveys in only a few minutes. Survey Monkey then collects and compiles the survey data into easy to read graphs with percentages. Survey recipients participate anonymously.

How can it be used in the classroom: This ICT resource can be a great asset for Learning Situations. Students can collect real life feedback from other classmates, community members, friends and family.

How does it work: A basic (free) account is required to start using Survey Monkey. The basic account features sufficient usability to use in an educational context. Once a basic account is setup, the author uses a template to create an on-line survey. The survey can contain multiple choice, yes/no answers, written questions, etc. Once finalized, the author receives a unique web link to send to participants. This web link can be copied and pasted into an e-mail or even written down on paper and post up around the school.  Recipients visit the web link on a computer to anonymously take part in the survey.

Video Tutorial: Here’s a video I prepared that demonstrates how to create a survey with Survey Monkey and provides a brief overview of how the website works:

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Quick overview: The Google Lit Trips (www.googlelittrips.org) website uses Google Earth mapping technology to explore and expand upon real-world places featured in books and classic literature.

How can it be used in the classroom: Using this website, you can download various “Google Lit Trips” that have been pre-prepared by other teachers.  The majority of Google Lit Trips contain a teacher’s guide and Google Earth “placemarks” that allow students to explore the far away places that are described in a book. For example, Jerome Burg, creator of the site and an English teacher from Livermore, California, has prepared a Google Lit Trip with various “placemarks” for locations that the character Amir visits in the book The Kite Runner. To describe how Jerome uses Google Lit Trips with The Kite Runner, I’ve quoted an article featured on the Edutopia website:

“.. By clicking on a placemark, students open a pop-up window embedded with supplementary information. One window shows a photo of a bazaar, accompanied by a passage from the novel describing a musty marketplace. Another explains the cultural history of the Pashtun people and has links to additional information about Shia and Sunni Muslims. Most pop-ups include photos, maps, drawings, or text but also have questions to encourage students to think about the story. Exploring the placemarks involves active engagement that Burg compares with using manipulatives for hands-on learning in math. It puts the kids right in the middle of the story,” Burg explains, “rather than at a desk as the teacher teaches the story at them. Students can also add their own placemarks, highlighting locations or links that add to their understanding.”

Video Tutorial: Here’s a video I prepared that demonstrates what’s possible with Google Lit Trips and an overview of how it works:

ICT Ttip: In order to use the Google Lit Trips site, you need to install Google Earth. For more information on using and installing Google Earth, refer to my blog posting at (www.tinyurl.com/ict-earth)  In addition, if you’re technically adventurous, the Google Lit Trips site provides a guide to create your own Google Lit Tips.

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Quick overview: Google has finally brought their groundbreaking “Street View” technology to Canada! This amazing technology allows your students to virtually walk around the streets of Canadian cities and experience them as if they were really there.  It’s EASY to use, no special software required, and is free. Works even better on a Interactive Whiteboard, such as a SMARTBoard.

How can it be used in the classroom: Using a digital projector, this technology can be used to take your students on a virtual tour of famous Quebec landmarks that the class may not otherwise have been able to travel to in person. French second language students can use this site to verbally describe various landmarks or buildings found in their own neighborhoods. In addition, this technology can be used as a starting point to bring up a class debate regarding privacy in the Internet age.  Would your students be comfortable having others look up their home addresses?  What would the pictures show?  (i.e – Can you see what was in the garbage that day?  Who was parked in the driveway?)  Ultimately, do your students feel this technology is an invasion of our privacy or a beneficial technology?

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video of Google Street view, please click the large play button below:

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Quick overview: Common problems encountered when preparing SMARTBoard lessons in advance and how to fix them. Intermediate to advanced techniques.

How can it be used in the classroom: In the 2008-2009 school year, I provided many hands-on SMARTboard workshops.  In these workshops, I began to see a pattern of common problems that frustrated many teachers when preparing lessons on their home or school computers (i.e – not on a SMARTBoard) in advance of their classes. As this is the case, I’ve prepared a small video tutorial to help you avoid the same frustrations. Topics include working with the text tool, layers, lock in place, allow move, and the text splitter tool.

Important notes: As the tips presented in the video are intermediate to advanced, it is primarily intended for teachers who would like to start preparing SMARTBoard lessons at home or for teachers already using the SMARTBoard on a regular basis. If you are not familiar with the SMART Notebook text tool, I would suggest you first consult my earlier ICT blog posting before watching the video below.

Video Tutorial: To see an on-line video of common problems that occur when preparing SMART Notebook presentations, click the large play button below: